1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a handler which conveys a part, and more particularly to a handler provided with a temperature control unit for controlling the temperature of a part, and a part inspecting apparatus which includes this handler.
2. Related Art
A typical part inspecting apparatus which inspects the electric characteristics of an electronic part has a handler which conveys the electronic part before and after inspection between a tray on a base and an inspection socket. According to this part inspecting apparatus, there is a type which inspects the electric characteristics of an electronic part kept in a low-temperature condition at 0° C. or a lower temperature.
For example, there is disclosed a technology in JP-A-2004-347329, as a method for cooling an electronic part into a low-temperature condition. According to the method of JP-A-2004-347329, a tray provided with a plurality of support portions is placed on a stage to support electronic parts on the support portions. The stage contains a cooling channel to cool the tray via the stage. Refrigerant produced from cooled compressed air is supplied from a refrigerant supply unit to the cooling channel of the stage to cool the electronic parts via the tray.
When this structure is used to cool a plurality of stages, each of the stages requires a flow amount control valve capable of controlling the supply amount of refrigerant according to the temperature of the stage. In this case, piping for connection between the supply source of the refrigerant and the respective cooling channels becomes complicated. Moreover, the conditions of the plural flow amount control valves differ for each of the stages, wherefore heavy loads are applied to a controller which determines opening and closing for each of the flow amount control valves during supply amount control.